Tom entertains offers from landfill operators

Personnel of Cebu City Hall’s Department of Public Services (DPS) dump the day’s garbage at the Inayawan landfill which may be closed again by January next year.
(CDN Photo/Junjie Mendoza)

CEBU City Mayor Tomas Osmeña is open to entertaining offers from other landfill operators that can accommodate at least 600 tons of the city’s garbage daily, the latest of which came from Talisay City Mayor Eduardo Gullas.

But like his earlier proposal to the Court of Appeals (CA), Osmeña said interested landfill operators should join a public bidding, which the city plans to do within the year.

“That will be the contractor that will be participating in the bidding because we have to bid it out. And before bidding it out, we need to have a budget so it’s just a process,” the mayor said in an interview yesterday.

He earlier told the CA justice in last Monday’s hearing that he agrees to stop the dumping of garbage in the Inayawan landfill by January 1.

The mayor said this will give the city enough time to look for funds and conduct a public bidding for a different landfill and garbage haulers.

Gullas reportedly said he was willing to accept Cebu City’s garbage but he would need the Talisay City Council’s agreement on it as well.

Cebu City Councilor Joel Garganera said he was okay with the city dumping its garbage in Talisay City since the area is nearer than most of the other landfills sites in
the province.

During the CA hearing, lawyer Cheryl Angeline Roque-Javier, who is representing the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), said only five out of 11
landfills are operational in the Cebu, including that of Talisay City.

Other available landfills include those in the towns of Asturias and Balamban, which are both managed by the local governments. The other two are both in Consolacion town
and are privately owned.

The CA will rule on Garganera’s request for a temporary environmental protection order (TEPO) against the use of the landfill.